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On 2/7/2024 at 7:36 AM, Sohail said:

It's a great lens but just judging by the pictures here and elsewhere (especially the first picture), it distorts (i.e. stretches the frame noticeably) about a third of the way in on either side. I think the 28 works better for these kinds of shots. It begs the question of what sort of shots the 21 excel at. Architecture, interiors, and landscape for sure.

I don't see that much distortion on the edges but then I only care about faces.  For architectural pics, I probably wouldn't use a 21mm wide lens or I would have to adjust in PS or LR.

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7 hours ago, cj3209 said:

Wow.  Faces don't look distorted - most wide angles I've used distort faces.  I do expect distortion on the edges - you have to expect that. 

Nice shots!

It is better than the 28 on the Q's and 24 on the 24-90 in terms if distorting people. 

I've been shooting in APSC mode on my SL3 for a 31mm crop. Works really well. 

 

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35 minutes ago, PeterBoyadjian said:

It is better than the 28 on the Q's and 24 on the 24-90 in terms if distorting people. 

I've been shooting in APSC mode on my SL3 for a 31mm crop. Works really well. 

 

You’re going to spend my money.  I’m so torn between the 21 APO or the 28 to use with my 50 and 75 APO SLs.  Would love to see some images taken in APS-C mode on the SL3.

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I have the 28mm APO. It's my go-to lens. I'm tempted to get the 21mm but in practical terms I can't justify it. I can't imagine it would get much. If I could choose again, it would make more sense to go for 21 and 35. Instead, I'm fine with 28/50/90. 

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I had the chance to twist the 21 Apo on my SL2S yesterday. No editing has been done for this image apart from the white border and colour space to srgb.

1/50 sec, f 7.1 800 iso. I basically pointed and shot this frame at my favourite camera retail outlet. The extensive Leica cabinet was behind me. I was told to "leave it on" (the lens) however we all know where that experience leads us. The 21 SEM is still working well for me however no where near the excellent ability for perspective and distortion control. If I was a working photographer this lens would be a real workhorse and worth every penny.  Thanks to Camera Electronics in Stirling Street.   

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Edited by Ken Abrahams
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On 2/6/2024 at 11:24 PM, PeterBoyadjian said:

I shot a birthday on Saturday with the 21 APO in rotation. What a nightmare, the room was blood red - red draped walls to the ceiling. I still bounce flashed and corrected skin tones in Lightroom. The step and shoot was small, I was like four or five feet away, so any 4 person lineups I had to use the 21. 

APO SL performance in a 21mm, how they did it not sure, but it's a keeper. 

 

 

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Thank you for these samples! Great shots and show what I was looking for, how it renders people in an event environment. It looks fantastic !

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12 hours ago, Ken Abrahams said:

I had the chance to twist the 21 Apo on my SL2S yesterday. No editing has been done for this image apart from the white border and colour space to srgb.

1/50 sec, f 7.1 800 iso. I basically pointed and shot this frame at my favourite camera retail outlet. The extensive Leica cabinet was behind me. I was told to "leave it on" (the lens) however we all know where that experience leads us. The 21 SEM is still working well for me however no where near the excellent ability for perspective and distortion control. If I was a working photographer this lens would be a real workhorse and worth every penny.  Thanks to Camera Electronics in Stirling Street.   

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Thank you for this.  There is very little stretching at the right and left edges of the frame. It basically looks like a wider normal lens rather than a super wide angle.  Right now I'm carrying the 35 APO SL, 75 APO SL and 50 Lux-SL in my bag.  I have the Laowa 10mm 2.8 rectilinear on order, but that's very much a special purpose lens.  The 21 APO may be the exact thing I need for my wider option for general use.   

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After looking at that image again I'm wondering how Leica has managed to pretty much eliminate volumetric distortion from the lens.  Do you think this is done optically, or could it be that the lens is actually wider than 21 and there is some correction being done in camera?

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Yes, Leica does use software correction in the 21. Without it, the view is noticeably wider.

This 

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Vs

Edited by Virob
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9 hours ago, Miltz said:

Great to know. This is done in camera correct? Like the Q3 lens?

Yes, the corrected image shows in the viewfinder and jpegs. The correction instructions are also in the dng file for those programs that can read it. I’m my case Nitro Photos can and Affinity Photos can not.

3 hours ago, Ken Abrahams said:

I kind of like the wide unadulterated 21 mm view as it adds character to certain images  but equally like the very perfect Apo SL 21. 

There is some noticeable barrel distortion in there for sure. For some images it totally fine, and that bit extra wide angle could come in handy at times.

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43 minutes ago, Virob said:

Yes, the corrected image shows in the viewfinder and jpegs. The correction instructions are also in the dng file for those programs that can read it. I’m my case Nitro Photos can and Affinity Photos can not.

There is some noticeable barrel distortion in there for sure. For some images it totally fine, and that bit extra wide angle could come in handy at times.

The distortion I was referring to is volume/volumetric distortion:

https://www.lifeafterphotoshop.com/its-the-distortion-youve-never-heard-of-and-the-only-tool-ive-found-to-fix-it/

Even the uncorrected image above doesn't seem to show a lot of this.  it's one of the main reasons I'm considering the 21 APO over some other choices in the same focal length range.

Edited by Dr. G
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